Frankie Edgar gets real on the subject of title shots in 2013, thinks he can get a shot with a win over Oliveira.

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It seems odd that Frankie Edgar, a guy who has fought seven title fights in a row, and all to true number one contenders (at least in my opinion) would want to hope on the hype-train bandwagon as a way to get a title shot, but who am I to judge? We just got off UFC 159, where Chael Sonnen got a world title shot because he called out the champ. Chael didn’t have a light heavyweight win in over half a decade, was coming off a loss at middleweight and yet, there he was — in the main event and about thirty seconds away from having the title due to Bones’ broken toe. Sorry, I think I got off on a tangent there.

The fact is, we know Frankie Edgar is awesome, but a win over Charles Oliveira does not mean a title shot at featherweight again. Let’s be fair. Frankie, how about a Chad Mendes fight if you finish Charles in impressive fashion? That would be enough in my opinion to warrant another shot. Now granted, those fights that Frankie lost were damn close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, and right now in his last 5 fights Frankie is 1-3-1.

That isn’t stopping him from believing that he can get another shot at the title with a good win at UFC 162.

This is what he told MMA Junkie:

“Let’s be real about the way this goes, it’s not always the No. 1 contender that gets the title shots. Look at tonight. It’s who they invest money in and who’s a known name. In the lighter weights, just being that I’ve fought seven title fights in a row, I think I’m that guy. So I think it makes sense for them, and it obviously makes sense for me.”

“I’m going to go out there and fight to the best of my ability, and I hope it’s enough to get the attention toward my way,””It kind of is, but what are we doing this for?” “I want to do this to be the best and carry cards and be a headline guy. You don’t want to get comfortable saying, ‘It’s kind of nice to not having all the attention.’ That’s what pays the bills.”

“I’m always trying to improve in all areas, and that’s definitely something that being in these close fights brings to my attention,” “I’ve got to either do something to make this gap wider, where there’s no doubt, or finish fights. So I’m definitely working on it in the gym.”